Vertebral fracture identification toolkit

These pathways can be used if you don't have access to a FLS in your area. They define best practice secondary fracture prevention for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland:

• England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Scotland

This pathway can be used to support appropriate management for patients with newly-identified vertebral fractures who are referred from imaging departments:

• Management for patients with newly diagnosed vertebral fractures

These pathways can be used to support secondary fracture prevention in different scenarios.

Within FLS:

• New vertebral fracture
• Previously unreported vertebral fracture
• Previously unreported vertebral fracture identified during a DXA vertebral fracture assessment

In the absence of FLS:

• New vertebral fracture
• Previously unreported vertebral fracture

These pathways support decision making for the management of new vertebral fractures. They can be used to support quality improvement programmes in vertebral fracture identification:

• Quality improvement pathway
• Pathway design and implementation

Audit tool for CT scans

This tool helps to evaluate the identification of opportunistic vertebral fractures via CT scans.

This tool includes:

• audit criteria
• data collection sheet
• audit reporting template
• definitions of a vertebral fracture

To use this tool, you'll need to be confident in assessing sagittal spine CT images to identify vertebral fractures, and have access to original clinical radiology reports.

Audit tool for referrals to DXA

This tool can help you to learn:

• the proportion of referrals to your DXA service that indicate vertebral fractures
• the referral source
• whether there were previous missed opportunities to identify vertebral fractures

It includes:

• audit criteria
• data collection sheet
• audit reporting template

This tool could inform a business case for service development (for example, the introduction of vertebral fracture assessment to a DXA service), and help you understand how DXA could drive demand for FLS as a previously unexplored pathway.

Audit tool for spine pathways

This tool is for evaluating the identification of vertebral fractures via spine pathways (for example, musculoskeletal or back pain services). It can help to establish whether these spine pathways may be a good place to identify vertebral fractures, and whether patients with vertebral fractures are being reported.

It includes:

• audit criteria
• data collection sheet
• audit reporting template
• definitions of a vertebral fracture

To use this tool, you'll need to be confident in assessing spinal imaging to identify vertebral fractures, and have access to original clinical radiology reports.

FLS demand model tool

This is a tool for predicting the increase in demand on your FLS if you begin searching for incidental vertebral fractures on imaging.

This tool can help to:

• drive service improvement
• inform a business case for service development
• inform a business case for a new FLS, spinal service, or vertebral fracture FLS

It includes:

• instructions for use
• audit criteria
• data collection sheet
• reporting template for audit report and demand report
• definition of a vertebral fracture
• management pathway for secondary fracture prevention

To use this tool, you'll need to be confident in assessing sagittal spine CT images to identify vertebral fractures, and have access to original clinical radiology reports. You'll also need to know how many CT scans you complete in an average month or year.